Strategic Plan Update: Progress on Our Integration Priority

Dear Colleagues,

Our work to achieve the goals of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Strategic Plan continues, and we would like to provide you with an update on the strategic priority of integration.

To better compete and grow in the rapidly changing health care environment, we are developing a more efficient, innovative system of care and financing. We are integrating our services across the enterprise, finding new ways to manage and enhance the care of our patients and reducing the cost to deliver that care. In addition, we are looking to partner in new ways with likeminded organizations to support our tripartite mission.

To coordinate this process, we have established the Johns Hopkins Medicine Integrated Healthcare Delivery Council, a group that brings together leaders from across the health system and from the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians. Among the areas the council addresses is where our clinical network should expand and how we will attract the right physicians and providers to meet the needs of our communities.

With our experience in government-funded programs, we will also participate in Medicare Advantage beginning in January 2016. Medicare Advantage is a managed care option for Medicare beneficiaries.  Johns Hopkins HealthCare has created a new entity to oversee this, and it will enroll members and provide a full range of benefits, including primary, specialty, urgent and emergency care throughout the state.

We also continue to explore and build strategic relationships with other health systems and organizations. Examples include:

• Allegheny Health Network and Highmark Health in Pennsylvania. We have launched a durable medical equipment (DME) joint venture and a collaboration on oncology. In addition to oncology consults, we have also established a fund to advance cancer research, which supported 10 grant applications this year, across both institutions and many departments.
• Kaiser Permanente. We are working together to provide quality care while reducing costs. Efforts at Suburban Hospital are underway to develop transition-of-care processes aimed at reducing readmissions and to apply Kaiser's national facility benchmarks to the hospital's campus enhancement plans. Systemwide, we are exploring joint research efforts and how we may champion public policy issues together.
• Health Services Cost Review Commission Grant. Johns Hopkins has been awarded a grant to support collaborative planning that will include five Baltimore City hospitals and our suburban partners Anne Arundel Health System and Greater Baltimore Medical Center, as well as other facility-based and community-based partners. The initial focus will be on identifying high-risk patients, connecting them to care management and addressing barriers that might prevent these patients from achieving stability and better health.

Please check the Strategic Plan website at hopkinsmedicine.org/strategic plan for more information on how we are integrating our health system to better the health of our patients and the world. Be sure to share your thoughts about the Strategic Plan by emailing us at strategicplan@jhmi.edu.

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine